Things We Lost to the Water

Described by Vinh as a woman who “thrives on figuring out how to avoid danger, how to stay alive” (268), Hương is a single mother of two by age 25 and immigrates to New Orleans as a refugee during the Vietnam War. She starts from scratch, knowing no English and having no husband or resources, but manages to create a life for herself and her family. Hương is fiercely protective of her sons, to the point that she lies to them about Công’s abandonment, but simultaneously can’t let go of Công herself, creating tapes and writing letters to him even after she can no longer mail them to Vietnam. Because of her traumatic experiences during the war and her culture shock, Hương rejects all forms of ideology, including Catholicism and communism, and refuses to let her sons near either of them, even if it costs them community. This attitude does relax when she’s around people she likes, but on the whole, she remains a loner and befriends outcasts, like Bà Giang and Vinh.

While Hương eventually accepts some changes, such as shifting her idea of home from Vietnam to New Orleans, she maintains the constant immigrant mentality of working hard to raise her children and create a better life for her family, no matter what she has to sacrifice to do so.